Wednesday, July 5, 2017

INDIA - HC grants bail to 7 Telangana activists

The
Bilaspur High Court on Friday granted bail to seven activists from
Telangana, who were arrested by the Chhattisgarh police in December last
year for allegedly possessing banned currency notes and Maoist
literature.
The seven activists of the Telangana Democratic Front
(TDF) were travelling to Sukma district as part of a fact-finding team
to inquire into the atrocities on tribals, when they were arrested and
charged under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act.
Justice
Gautam Bhadudi granted bail to all the TDF activists and asked them to
furnish a surety of ₹25,000 each. The court said the applicants had been
in jail for more than six months and charges against them have been
framed. ʹLooking at the period of detention undergone by the applicants
as against the charges framed against them, and taking into
consideration the entire situation, this court is inclined to allow this
bail application,ʹ read the order.
The activists are Andhra
Pradesh High Court lawyer Bhalla Ravindranath, advocate Chikkudu
Prabhakar, independent journalist Durga Prasad, social activist Duddu
Prabhakar, student leader Rajendra Prasad, and student activists Nazeer
and Ramananda Lakshmi.
The Sukma police had claimed to have
arrested the activists in Dharmapenta village, but the activists said
they were arrested by the Telangana police in Dummugudem village and
handed over to the Chhattisgarh police.
The activists had also denied that they were carrying any banned notes or Maoist literature.
The
lower court had rejected the bail plea of these activists and even the
Bilaspur High Court had turned down their bail application in March.
ʹThis was their second bail application. They are currently in the Sukma
district jail and they may be released on Saturday evening once all the
formalities are complete,ʹ said advocate Kishor Narayan of Human Rights
Law Network, who appeared for the activists along with advocate Viren
Pande.